Burgess Marine to build new Emergency Berthing Barge for Wightlink

UK-based specialist marine engineering and repair company Burgess Marine has further expanded its portfolio by securing a contract from South Coast UK ferry operator Wightlink to build a 22m Emergency Berthing Barge.

The barge will be prefabricated by Burgess Marine in nine modules at its facilities in Dover, and completed onsite in Portsmouth. The barge will be used by Wightlink to support its existing infrastructure on the company’s various cross-Solent ferry operations, which include conventional services between Portsmouth and Fishbourne and Lymington-Yarmouth, as well as its FastCat services linking Portsmouth and Ryde. 

The Wightlink berthing barge, which has been designed by well-known UK naval architects Hart Fenton, is part of the ferry operator’s £57m investment in its fleet and shore-side terminals, which includes building two new catamaran ferries for the Portsmouth-Ryde service and jumboising two of its Saint-class vessels on its Portsmouth-Fishbourne run. 

The Wightlink barge is the third major contract to be awarded to Burgess Marine as a direct result of the BVT-Burgess TEAM PORTSMOUTH alliance, the first being the major conversion and upgrade of the fast ferry InCat 050, which will enter service on the Irish Sea for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co Ltd as Mannaman in the spring of 2009, and the second being awarded primary sub-contractor status with regards to the main engine overhaul work on the Wightlink conventional ferry fleet, for and on behalf of BVT Surface Fleet.  Sphere: Related Content